Telecommunication infrastructures are provided in a variety of ways to enable users to transmit signals (e.g., voice and/or data) using a vast array of devices. For example, telephones, computers, and so on may be connected over networks provided by the infrastructures such that the devices may communicate, one with another, through the use of signals communicated via the infrastructure. However, because of the vast number of devices utilized to communicate, an equally and even greater number of connections may be utilized in typical settings to provide communication between the devices, such as through the use of signal conductors, e.g., optical fiber and/or copper cable. Therefore, routing and organization of these signal conductors when configuring and rearranging the infrastructure may be difficult.
For example, a patch panel may be utilized in the infrastructure to allow circuit arrangement and rearrangement by plugging and unplugging patch cables from jacks disposed on the “front” of the patch panel. Previously, in order to note which signal conductor connected to the back of the patch panel (and its respective destination) corresponded to which jack that was provided on the front of the patch panel, a technician manually made a notation on the front of the panel or on a separate sheet as to where the signal conductors were “run” (e.g., “office one”).
In order to identify the signal conductors when configuring the patch panel and to re-identify the signal conductors should these identification become lost, changed, and so on, one previous technique required the technician to apply a test voltage at a destination of the signal conductor. Then, at the site of the patch panel (which may be located at a significant distance from the destination), the technician located a corresponding jack through use of a plug that was sequentially inserted into each of the jacks until a jack having the test voltage was located. As should be readily apparent, this may be both time consuming and frustrating to the technician, especially as the number of signal conductors and distance between locations increased.
One previous technique utilized to address these limitations involved the use of a test circuit that allowed a test voltage to be applied to the circuit when in a specific position. However, the test circuit required a specific position of a switch during testing that disabled the circuit from communicating signals during signal conductor identification. Further, when the switch was configured to communicate signals using the circuit in another position, the circuit could not be utilized in signal conductor identification. Therefore, a technician was forced to interrupt signal communication to identify the circuits, which again may be frustrating to not only the technician but also users of the circuit as well.